21st Century Technology Meets Old Time Gender Ideals: The Role of Gender in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

This paper looks at gender portrayal in video games and explores how this portrayal affects players’ view of gender and interactions with it. I look at anthropological and gender studies literature in order to learn more about the current state of video games. The main game I examine is the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) Black Desert Online. I utilize ethnographic methods, such as anonymous, open-ended surveys and confidential formal interviews, to find my data. I conducted these surveys and interviews with College of Wooster students and found that they see the gender binary reinforced through the idealization and hypersexualization of video game characters. My contributors also note that they would like to move away from these stereotypes, and they hope video games become more inclusive